Jiahao Huang

Jiahao Huang is the co-founder and CFO of Nuclera, the Cambridge and Boston-based biotechnology company he helped establish in 2013 while completing his doctorate at the University of Cambridge. A scientist by training with a background spanning chemistry and bioengineering, Huang met his co-founders — Michael Chen and Gordon McInroy — in the research laboratories of Cambridge, where they shared a common frustration with the cost and inaccessibility of proteins needed to power their doctoral research.

Huang played a central role in the earliest stages of Nuclera’s development, contributing to the foundational scientific and commercial work during the company’s formative years as a part-time, angel-backed startup before its first institutional funding round in 2019. His transition into the CFO role reflected the company’s evolution from academic spin-out to commercial-stage life science tools business, as Nuclera expanded its manufacturing capabilities, grew its team across two continents, and scaled its eProtein Discovery™ platform into global pharmaceutical and research markets.

The eProtein Discovery™ system, which Huang helped to build from its earliest prototypes, combines cell-free protein synthesis, digital microfluidics, and AI-assisted construct screening to produce high-quality proteins in under 48 hours. The platform has been adopted by leading contract research organisations, biotech and biopharma companies, and academic institutions including the University of Cambridge, UCL, the University of Manchester, and the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology in Belgium.

Nuclera has raised over $140 million in total funding, including a $75 million Series C and a subsequent £9 million extension in January 2026. Huang’s background combines deep scientific expertise with the financial discipline required to manage a rapidly scaling dual-site operation, making him a critical figure in Nuclera’s continued growth toward its stated ambition of a New York IPO.